The Curse of the Scar
by alwaysslowburning
Summary: Beauty and the Beast/A:TLA crossover. Zuko was cursed by a bloodbending waterbender to be covered in scars until he is able to get a waterbender to fall in love with him and break the curse. What happens when Katara stumbles into his castle one rainy evening? Multichaptered fic. Zutara. Rated T, but expect outtakes to be rated M. Includes elements from B&TB Enchanted Christmas.
1. Prologue

**Introduction**

Once upon a time in a land far away, a prince of fair skin and hair the color of midnight turned away a woman in desperate need of his help. Angered by his arrogance, the woman revealed her true form; not only was she not an ordinary old woman, but she was one of the most powerful waterbenders the world had ever seen. She wielded great power against his veins and twisted his blood until cruel marks appeared upon his skin. Only a small portion around his eye was spared, for the woman believed that, deep down, he possessed goodness and purity.

By the time the firebending prince prepared to strike, he was too late. His skin was no longer the color of pure moonlight, but was marred by burn marks and bruises. All of those in the castle were marked as well, turned into trinkets and knick-knacks and forbidden from leaving the castle walls.

The fire prince prepared a breath of furious fire, but his throat was emptied. He clenched his hands into fists, and one began to bleed; in his fist had appeared a rose, thorny and vibrant, glowing with a tenderness that reminded him of love, despite him never knowing love's face. He remembered the woman's whispered words – he had until the last petal fell before the curse would be made unbreakable.

The prince and all in the castle would forever be marked by the night unless the scarred prince fell in love with and was loved by a waterbending master, a woman capable of seeing past his appearance and into the heart that the original bloodbender so strongly wanted to believe he possessed.

The firebending prince would suffer in silence for years, until one day when the person he needed most would unknowingly stumble into his castle, his prison.


	2. The Castle and The Mask

"GranGran, come quickly! I have found us shelter," Katara announced, tightening her grip on her grandmother's arm and tugging her through the forest. Their shoes slipped and sloshed in the muddy waters filling the quickly darkening woods. Katara raised her arm and bent the water away from them, and her grandmother awarded her with a smile.

"You always save the day, my dear," GranGran said, her wrinkled mouth tugging up to the corners.

"And you taught me how, GranGran," Katara said, leading her grandmother though the woods. "This is the last time we go to a healing so far away on a night when you think it's going to rain," Katara said, frowning. "I should have trusted your instincts."

GranGran shook her head. "You were right to put the health of a village above faith in my old bones."

"Sometimes I feel like – oh, GranGran," Katara exclaimed, her eyes settling on a castle that only seemed to grow as they approached it. When she saw the smoke rising in the sky, she expected to find a small cottage like the one they lived in near town. She had never even heard of castles existing in this area.

"Well, come on then, let us get inside," GranGran urged, poking her granddaughter in the back and smiling. Katara smiled back, and together they pushed forward the creaky fence. Growing more and more hesitant as darkness fell upon them, the pair walked quickly to the front door of the castle. After a quick squeeze of her grandmother's cool hand, Katara let her knuckles ring down on the door. When there was no response, she began to bang again and again, her banging encouraged by the sound of thunder very close by. Midbang, the door suddenly swung open, causing Katara to gasp and her grandmother to clutch her heart.

Katara heard the sound of muffled voices and entered, holding out a hand to keep her grandmother behind her.

"Hello?" More voices. "We just wanted shelter from the storm… is anyone here? We are just travelers from nearby. We were doing a healing –"

"Healing?" Said a muffled voice, cynical sounding and high.

"Can it be?" Another voice, lower and excited.

"If you would come out, I would like to speak to you –" The door behind her banged closed, and a gust of wind made Katara shudder and step closer to her GranGran, sliding a protective arm around her.

"We should go," Katara whispered to her grandmother. "Something about this feels wrong." Just as Katara ran for the door, she heard the sound of voices.

"No no no, come on, please stay," the lower voice, more masculine, called again.

"Seriously, I'm sick and tired of being like this."

Katara searched the room for the sound of the voices, and then there was the sound of footsteps.

"Who are you speaking to?" a voice snapped, and all other voices ceased. "Well?" the voice grew louder.

"Who are you? Are you the master of this castle?" GranGran called, and Katara's eyes grew wide.

"GranGran!" Katara scolded, but her GranGran pressed forward.

"We want nothing but shelter," her grandmother continued. Just barely, Katara could see a pair of shoes, a body completely masked by darkness. For a moment she wished she could firebend and see who it was.

"Shelter," the voice spat, and Katara began to search for a source of water. The windows were locked tightly, allowing no rain inside, and she couldn't hear any water droplets. She cursed herself for not refilling her water-skin. She would have to fight this hand-to-hand. "You should know better than to enter strange places and ask for favors, old woman," the voice said, its tone cutting. Katara felt her face flare.

"Why don't you step forward and fight your own battles, you coward?"

Out of the darkness came the pair of black shoes, legs wrapped in dark blue and a waist encased in tattered gray fabric, arms hidden beneath dark purple silk – and then there was a face, or it seemed to be a face – blue with white outlines, the mask appeared real for almost a second, almost drawing a scream from Katara's throat. She was comforted only for a moment that it was simply a mask, and then her grandmother was being pulled away from her and dragged down a long, spiraling staircase. Katara chased the figure and was knocked aside, her head hitting a stair. The last thing she saw was the retreating masked figure, and dark, shaggy hair blowing out behind him.

When Katara woke, she was trapped in cell. She sat up abruptly and moaned at the pain.

"She's awake, she's awake!" One of the earlier voices returned.

"Finally awake, Sugar Queen?" The other voice laughed, and there was the sound of metal hitting wood.

"OW!"

"You should know better than to mess with me.

Katara shook her head and rubbed her eyes, and yet a clock and a candlestick remained chatting before her, heads locked in battle and grins on their faces.

She was still dreaming. She must have fallen asleep as soon as they entered their home after their travels. She could almost smell the scent of GranGran's perfume; GranGran – the thought of her grandmother knocked her into the presence, and Katara screamed and shuffled away from the talking objects.

"What – what – who – what is this place?"

"We are your friends," the clock stated, suddenly growing sober. It seemed to exchange a glance with the candlestick, and it nodded.

"We can help you, but you only have a few minutes before the master gets up here. Are you listening?"

"How can you talk?" Katara asked, and the clock rolled its eyes.

"We don't have time for those questions. You need to make two promises."

"Why should I trust you?" Katara snapped, growing more and more afraid as the seconds passed.

"If you want your grandmother to leave this place safely, you better be prepared to make some promises," the clock spat, its expression as fiercely stubborn as Katara's.

"We are all you have, now." the candlestick amended, something familial about the tone.

"You need to freeze the lock on your grandmothers cell so we can get her out of here, and then you need to promise never to bend again," the clock stated plainly, looking almost bored.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you promise, or not?" the clock nearly screeched at the same time the candlestick spoke.

"The master isn't too big on waterbenders," the candlestick added, and the clock elbowed him in what appeared to be his stomach.

"Just freeze the lock," the clock shouted, "we don't have much time!"

Disoriented and more than a little terrified that she was losing her mind, Katara froze the lock with a harsh blow of her breath across to her grandmothers cell. Within seconds the strange objects were kicking and pulling on the door. Just as the door snapped, though, the masked figure appeared in the doorway.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" the figure said, the anger in his voice making the permanent grin on the masks face even more terrifying.

"She did nothing, we have no use for her!" the clock exclaimed.

"She is just as guilty as the rest of them," the figure said, its hands folding into fists.

"She is innocent!" the candlestick argued.

"No one in innocent! Innocents do not break into homes," the figure countered.

"Please, please, please," Katara screeched, her voice bordering on hysterical, "free her and I will do anything, anything, please. She did nothing, this was my fault."

Katara glanced won at her grandmother, eying her unmoving figure. Her eyes locked on her torso, waiting desperately for signs that she was breathing. Her stomach rose and fell, and Katara exhaled.

The mask tilted toward her, and footsteps quickly moved toward her. Through the bars of her cell Katara regarded the masked figure, and Katara's hands tightened on the bars.

"Please," Katara pleaded.

"Anything?" The figure said, its voice seeming almost desperate.

"Anything, anything, please, just let my grandmother go home."

There was a pause during which nothing was said.

"Free her. Toss her outside," the figure commanded, turning its back on her and heading out of the room.

"Wait, I don't get to said goodbye?" Katara cried, her hand reaching toward her grandmother's limp figure as she was hoisted out of the cell and dragged by the inanimate objects and a few others.

"No," the figure hissed, turning back around. "Any other questions?"

Katara hesitated. "Let me see your face."

"For what purpose?" the voice said, the words quavering.

"There is honor in knowing one's captor. i wish to know."

"As you wish," the voice said, removing the mask, "my prisoner."

Katara's screams echoed throughout the dungeon, and a clock and a candlestick pulled the castle doors shut to trap the sound inside.


	3. The Friends

"Honestly, did you have to terrify the poor girl?" Uncle Iroh scolded, the tea within him heating and sloshing from side to side as he bounced over to his nephew.

"She deserves to know the truth," the prince stated plainly, his voice as raspy as usual.

"The truth?" Iroh snorted. "Showing her your face was only the tip of an iceberg, my nephew. You told her nothing of the power she possesses, and –"

"Are you finished? I did not ask for advice," the prince said, his golde eyes settling on the rambling teapot sitting on the floor by his desk.

"I do not want to die an old pot, Prince Zuko," his Uncle added. When Zuko did not respond, Uncle Iroh turned and left the room. He continued his travels down the long hallway and into the kitchen, where all were abuzz.

"Can you believe it?"

"A girl, and she's even –"

"Can she be a waterbender?"

"What if she's the one?"

"I just can't believe it."

"Beautiful, too."

Uncle Iroh took his place on in the center of the room and all grew silent as the seconds passed, waiting for his announcement. "I must require that none of you mention the possibility of the prisoner being a waterbender."

"But – "

"It's our only hope, General."

"We have to make him fall in love with her!" a small, chipped teacup cheered.

Uncle Iroh began to laugh. "So this is your plan?" He eyed the objects in the room, his eyes running over a teacup with a blue stripe down the chipped center, a clock fighting with a candlestick, a feather duster watching the fight, and several other objects. Each glanced at Iroh pointedly, and he knew they would take his word.

If only he could be so sure that it would be the proper one.

"Aang and Suki, Sokka and Toph, you will know what I need from you when I request your assistance. The rest of you – I request only that you remain faithful in me, and faithful in my nephew. The prince has grown wary over time, as we all have," Uncle Iroh shook his head, a defeated look in his eyes, "but we will not give up. We have something worth fighting for," his eyes rose to a painting of a grey-bearded man with his arm tossed around a grimacing, handsome boy with black hair, "humanity."

When Katara woke up, she was immediately moved from the cell to a large bedroom. The bed was bigger than any she had ever seen, and as she curled up in the plush covers and silk sheets she tried to hold back her questions. She knew they would answer them in time.

"We used to be human," Sokka said.

"But it all disappeared when our idiot prince pissed off the wrong lady," Toph added.

"He meant well," Aang countered.

"But either way, we have been stuck here," Sokka said.

Toph put her hands on her wooden hips. "I just want my old body back," she said, finally.

Katara stared at each of the speakers, trying and failing again to believe fully that these objects were talking and were once human. "So it was… magic?"

"No, there's no such thing as magic," Sokka said arrogantly.

"But there is bending," Aang said, hopping forward. "Very, very powerful bending."

"What kind of bending?" Katara asked, and the three friends exchanged a look.

"It was w-" Aang was abruptly cut off.

"We don't know what kind it was," Sokka snapped.

"Couldn't tell," Toph added, glaring at Aang, who bowed his head.

Katara wanted to get up, throw the blanket off of her and demand answers, but suddenly she felt the weight of the previous evening upon every inch of her skin. Her GranGran was gone, and she was never going to see her again. Tears leaked out of Katara's large blue eyes before she could stop them, and her new friends tittered and offered support.

"Katara," Toph said after a moment of Katara's crying, "it won't always be so bad."

"Yeah, Katara, you'll at least have us," Aang said.

"You will find a home here," Sokka said, and something about him seemed so familiar that Katara felt a warmth blooming within her. He was right; he wasn't lying, she could tell. She would, somehow, no matter how impossible it seemed right that moment, find a home here.

That evening, Katara was prepared for dinner. She was dressed and her hair was brushed and lipstick was pulled across her lips. The only problem was that all of this occurred with her screaming that she would never go to dinner.

"I don't care who he is, I am not doing to dinner with that, that, beast!"

"But Katara," her friends whined.

"It does not matter how I feel about you all. I will not see that monster until he gives me a proper apology and lets me go."

The room grew silent.

"He's never going to let me go," Katara whispered, the notion suddenly dawning on her.

At just that moment, there was a banging on the door, and then a voice.

"You will come to dinner," a raspy voice said, just loud enough to be heard through the wooden door. Katara pictured what she had avoided imagining all evening – scars, so many scars staining pale white skin.

_He would be beautiful, maybe, without them. _This fleeting thought faded quickly when he began pounding harder on the door.

"I will not come to dinner," she shouted.

The pounding ceased, and there was the sound of arguing. Glancing behind her at Toph, Sokka, and Aang, Katara crept toward the door. She knelt to the keyhole and listened.

"You must apologize to the girl, my nephew," Iroh said.

"Apologize? I have done nothing wrong!" The arrogant voice responded.

"Nothing wrong? You have kidnapped her!" Katara grimaced, waiting for the heated response she was sure to come.

"I didn't… that was not my intention," Zuko said, and Katara's eyes grew wide. _What?_

"Intent means nothing, my nephew. Only actions speak. Our thoughts remain stagnant inside of our heads." Iroh's words made Katara shudder. She jumped at the sudden tapping on the door. It was lighter this time. Kinder. Katara could feel the eyes of her friends' on her back.

"Will you please come to dinner?" the beast said, his voice low and careful.

"No!" Katara shouted.

"Then you will_ starve_!" the words were like a slap across the face; Katara visibly recoiled, running to her bed and hiding the tears sliding down her cheeks in down pillows.


End file.
